Cherwell

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08/01/2026

Farmers have staged a protest action on the High street slowing down the traffic with tractors. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs secretary Emma Reynolds was giving a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, hosted in the Examination Schools.

Farmers have staged numerous demonstrations using tractors across the UK to protest the government’s decision to apply inheritance tax to farms and agricultural businesses, announced in the October 2024 budget.

One of the protesting farmers told Cherwell: “It’s an egregious tax. When someone dies, they then put the family through the suffering of finding the tax set… on their farmland, which is our shop floor at the end of the day.”

🖊️Gaspard Rouffin, Arina Makarina, and Stanley Smith

Image credit: Gaspard Rouffin for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

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04/01/2026

JACK, by Musketeer Productions, reimagines the cult story of the most notorious serial killer in British history. Shining a light particularly on the mistreatment of women and the brutality of the Ripper murders, the show carries a dark, p***y aesthetic with a striking score and a vivid story. This new musical by Oxford graduates Sahar Malaika and Samuel Phillips had a sellout run in Oxford early last year, as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe festival last summer, and is set to come to the Courtyard Theatre in London on 5th January.

The musical takes place in London, 1888, a city thrown into panic by the recent murders of prostitutes in Whitechapel, attributed to Jack the Ripper. The play follows his final victim, Mary Kelly, days before her death, as she gets caught up in the investigation. Sitting down with cast members Liv Russell (Mary Ann Nichols), Sorcha Ní Mheachair (Nell), and newcomer Cameron Maiklem (Aloysius Howell), I asked them what they found so appealing about the play, and what’s in store for audiences in London.

🖊️Matilde Ambrosio

Image credit: Phoebe Birch with permission for Cherwell.

Read online at cherwell.org

29/12/2025

Write for Cherwell this Hilary term!

Email the contacts listed above to pick up a commission and see your work in the Week 0 print!

23/12/2025

Earlier this year, Cherwell attended Voices from North Korea, an event organised by Freedom Speakers International (FSI), a South Korea-based NGO working with North Korean refugees. Over the course of the evening, I spoke to three defectors – Sujin Kim, Yuna Jung, and Riha Kim – as well as organisers whose work centres on helping refugees rebuild their lives. As three of 30,000 North Korean defectors now living in South Korea, their experiences are not a single story of escape, but a series of unique journeys that complicate how we think about freedom, survival, and belonging.

It is easy to imagine escape as a single, defining moment: a border crossed, a door closed behind you. But what I heard repeatedly was that freedom is a far longer process. For most defectors, South Korea brings safety, but not belonging.

Read the full article at cherwell.org

🖊 Phoebe Davies

Image credit: Phoebe Davies, with permission.

19/12/2025

The University of Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, received a total pay package of £666,000 this year, the University’s latest accounts reveal. This represents a 2.5% increase in her base salary, placing her as one of the highest paid Vice-Chancellors across Russell Group universities.

Tracey’s pay package also included £188,000 for accommodation, and £51,000 in lieu of pension contributions. The Vice-Chancellor currently lives in accommodation provided by the University valued at £3.5 million, and therefore does not pay rent.

Cherwell understands that the Vice-Chancellor is required to reside in a property “appropriate for undertaking University duties”, but that she decided to purchase her own property upon taking the role. She has been living in temporary University-owned accommodation since accepting the role, but will move into her new property in January 2026.

🖊️ Gaspard Rouffin

Image credit: Image credit: Cyrus Mower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

15/12/2025

Oxford City Council flew the flag of Palestine from the Town Hall last week to mark an official visit from the Mayor of Ramallah Issa Kassis. During the visit on Tuesday, Mayor Kassis met with Oxford’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Louise Upton, and City Council Leader Councillor Susan Brown. The Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot, who went to university near Ramallah, was also in attendance.

Ramallah, a city in the central West Bank, has been twinned with Oxford since 2019. Members of the Oxford Ramallah Friendship Association (ORFA), which campaigned for 17 years to twin the two cities, invited Mayor Kassis to a committee meeting in the course of his visit. ORFA co-ordinates youth exchanges, educational visits, and trade union collaboration between the cities, among other ties.

Mayor Kassis said: “We are truly grateful for the historic friendship and partnership between Ramallah and Oxford, grounded in mutual respect and solidarity. It was an honor to visit Oxford and strengthen the ties between our cities and explore how we may continue working together in the spirit of solidarity and shared values.”

🖊️ Archie Johnston

Image credit: Oxford City Council with permission

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

13/12/2025

When I started university, I kept hearing the same question over and over again. By the end of Freshers’ week, I started to understand that “sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying” wasn’t a sign I was speaking too quietly. It was a comment on my accent.

After three years of accent discrimination at Oxford, I did what any sensible individual would do – I made a TikTok complaining about it. Half a million views later, I had comments and messages from people all over the UK who had faced similar experiences at universities all across the UK.

The comments were all too revealing about the negative stereotypes surrounding regional accents with comments on “Northern accents [being] funny” and “chav” accents being incomprehensible.

🖊️Chloe Pomfret

Image credit: Picnicin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

11/12/2025

Meet our Senior Editorial Team for Hilary term!

Want to join our award-winning paper? Section editor applications are now open! No previous experience required.

The deadline is 11:59pm on Saturday 13th December.

10/12/2025

Passionate about photography, videography, illustration, or puzzles? Join Cherwell’s creative team! Link to application form in our bio.

Deadline is midday 23rd of December!

07/12/2025

Meet our Editors-in-Chief for Hilary term!

Want to join our award-winning team? Section editor applications are now open! No previous experience required.

The deadline is 11:59pm on Saturday 13th December.

06/12/2025

A look back through our cartoons from this Michaelmas.

Want to see your own work in print? Look out for our creative team application form, coming out this weekend!

Illustration credit: Archie Johnston

06/12/2025

Apply to be a section editor at Cherwell! Collaborate with other talented students to produce award winning student journalism in Oxford. Apply through the link in our bio.

Choose from a range of different sections. No previous experience required!

Application deadline is 11:59 pm on Saturday 13th December.

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